Sheryl’s Story

Soon after graduating college with a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, I began my career as a corporate trainer for Jenny Craig. It was there that I developed my passion for teaching.

Five years later, we welcomed our first child to the world and we made the decision that I would devote all of my attentions to the raising of our child.

As fate would have it, my late father in law was Dr Burton L White, a leading expert in child development and the author of the First Three Years of Life. I participated as a student in his New Parents as Teachers Program and immediately took a great interest into how his research applied to our child and children in general.

When our baby Rachel was just three weeks old and very colicky, he gave me a book on infant massage and suggested that it might help to soothe her. At the time, I had no idea what it was all about, but the idea of touch and bonding with my baby appealed to me, so I read it and started to practice what I learned. Almost immediately, I noticed that on the days that she was given a massage she was less fussy making me more relaxed, and best of all, she slept soundly!

The experience was so rewarding that I decided to get certified by the International Association of Infant Massage and use my training background to teach what I had learned to help others.

Having the urge to communicate with Rachel made teaching her American Sign Language make perfect sense. We used a few simple signs and then within a week she was signing them in the right context. We were amazed. Rachel was even able to sign that she was teething. I knew immediately that I had to add this to my class offerings to parents and make their early communication with their baby improve.

After 17 years of teaching and learning, I have developed a number of programs aimed at an overall goal of what I call peaceful parenting. The programs start with massage for newborns, signing for babies starting as early as two months old and then into a phased approach to parenting for the first two years of life based partially on Dr White’s research, my own life experience as mother of three, as well as what I have learned from working with families for all of these years.

Knowing what to expect developmentally and behaviorally in the first two years of your baby’s life has a profound effect on both parents and baby and goes a long way towards creating a peaceful and happy environment for the whole family.

I teach classes at pre-schools, parenting organizations, non-profit centers, corporations, conferences, hospitals, schools, child care centers, libraries and in private homes one on one or with a group. Skype and phone calls and on-line are offered too.

Whether you are looking to soothe your fussy baby, help him or her sleep better, improve your ability to communicate at a very early stage or proactively prepare yourself for all of the different stages in the first two years, I would love to tailor a class specifically for yours and your baby’s needs.